Vision and Values

Carey’s new purpose-built campus contains a variety of flexible learning, working, worship and relaxing spaces. These facilities, inspired by the cultures comprising the student body, reflect and serve a dynamic and diverse learning community.

Through a network of regional training hubs and/or partnerships with local churches and mission movements, Carey is now able to provide effective place-based ministry and mission formation training throughout Aotearoa, and beyond, not just in Auckland.

Carey’s teaching and communication infrastructure allows it to provide students outside of Auckland with excellent interactive online learning experiences. This infrastructure also allows Carey to distribute high quality resources outside of its formal academic programme direct to churches and leaders.

Reflecting the constituency it serves, Carey’s staff team is much more ethnically diverse. It contains several Maori and Pasifika theologians and biblical scholars who either hold PhDs or are engaged in doctoral study. It also consists of several Chinese academics, plus others from the majority world. Carey has developed considerable expertise in the area of indigenous theology.

The college has developed strategic training partnerships with a range of growing church movements and mission organisations throughout New Zealand and within the majority world. It also enjoys strategic partnerships with several international colleges. Partnership with academics from other academic disciplines is producing high-quality interdisciplinary scholarship.

Carey has continued to develop and strengthen what has become a sustainable economic model. The college is no longer dependent on government funding. This has been achieved through strategic asset management, and effective communication with supporters, stakeholders, and alumni.

Carey’s Certificate and Diploma programmes are providing a range of flexible training options for church-based interns and part-time practitioners wanting specialist training both inside and outside of Auckland (e.g. DipCS in community-led development).

Carey’s ministry leadership training programmes are now available not only on-site in Auckland but also by distance throughout New Zealand. In their form, content, and personnel, they reflect the commitments and vision of te Tiriti o Waitangi, and consequently have strong appeal to Maori, Pasifika, and Asian students. Carey’s missions track continues to provide an excellent and flexible formation programme for missions students.

Through our wider curriculum, and especially our graduate diploma, we are equipping hundreds of Christian professionals to embody and proclaim the gospel through their vocations.

Through its Centre for Gospel and Culture, Carey is resourcing churches to engage effectively in public debate on significant social issues. In doing so, the Centre is helping to remove “faith-blockers” and promote a compelling Christian witness in a complex and secular world.

Carey’s Centre for Chinese Research and Training is seen as an excellent option for training pastoral leaders, both among Mandarin-speaking and English-speaking Chinese churches. The Centre is also producing excellent research by Chinese postgraduate students.

The Carey Centre for Lifelong Learning has matured into a self-sustaining programme that provides guided learning options, conferences, training events, and high quality, online resources. Most Baptist pastors, and a growing number of leaders from a range of other church traditions and cultures, are choosing the CCLL for their professional development.

Carey’s platform of online resources is being widely utilised by Christians for discipleship and formation. Church leaders are accessing these home-grown resources to provide training for their communities.

Our Masters and Doctoral programmes (delivered in partnership with leading international theological colleges) continue to grow, with our faculty currently supervising scores of postgraduate students. Our postgraduate programme provides clear pathways both for practitioners wanting a highly contextualised course of study, and students pursuing a more classical academic pathway.

Carey’s research and publication programme continues to be academically rigorous but demonstrates a responsiveness to the needs of the church and mission of God in Aotearoa, Asia, and the Pacific. Quality academic resources are complemented by more accessible print and video resources for thoughtful practitioners and Christian disciples. Through our research we are contributing towards processes of reconciliation and restitution in the face of historic and ongoing injustice.

Partnering with many hundreds of churches in the development of their pastoral staff and ministry leaders, Carey is providing excellent training and support for emerging and experienced leaders across Aotearoa and around the Asian-Pacific region.

Carey’s student body is much more diverse ethnically, reflecting the ethnic composition of the church throughout Aotearoa, Asia, and the Pacific. This is reflected in the on-site community, as well as the online programme, with many students from outside of Aotearoa benefiting from Carey’s online training and resources. Many, if not most of our students are now based outside of Auckland. They are accessing our training through Carey’s flexible online programmes.

We are committed to a safe and supportive learning environment for students, where they are respected and can flourish as individuals and collectively. We actively encourage student voices in key decisions relating to services offered by Carey.

While enrolment in our Bachelors’ programme is still strong, a significant percentage of our students are pursuing specialist training. Our undergraduate and postgraduate diplomas are very popular among the many part-time students. So, too, are the non-certified courses available through the Carey Centre for Lifelong Learning.

We have witnessed significant growth in our non-NZQA programmes. The current student population is evenly split between those pursuing formal qualifications and those involved in one of the many non-NZQA programmes of study offered through the Carey Centre for Lifelong Learning.

In terms of denominational affiliation, our student body has continued to become increasingly diverse. While our primary stakeholder is the Baptist Union, we have become known across the denominational spectrum as a theological college that serves the wider church of Aotearoa.

Carey alumni have become increasingly committed to lifelong learning. This is reflected in their greater resilience in ministry and ongoing support for Carey, facilitated by a strong alumni programme.

Carey’s graduates are marked by a deep love for the triune God, his word, his gospel, his church, and his mission. Their training forms them with the knowledge, skills, character, and practices to participate effectively in God’s mission in a rapidly changing world. Carey graduates are demonstrating courageous resilience, intercultural proficiency, and adaptive leadership. They have the capacity to disrupt, innovate, and develop new expressions of Christian witness and mission.

Carey graduates and Lifelong Learning participants are having a powerful influence in many churches, missions, and communities. They demonstrate faithfulness to the biblical tradition, sensitivity to their cultural context, and the capacity to lead communities towards renewal with imagination and courage.

We are regularly seeing new and creative patterns of Christian church and mission emerge as Carey graduates respond adaptively to changes in their society.

Carey’s connection to the Baptist community is very strong. A majority of Baptist churches are now led by Carey graduates. Nearly 75% of Baptist pastors have, or are, engaged in some level of ongoing training. As a result of this strong connection, the Baptist Union’s leadership is very supportive of the College, regularly inviting Carey staff to participate in conversations and conferences. The fruit of this is greater health, and a renewed imagination, within the Baptist movement.

Under God’s gracious hand, Carey has developed strong training partnerships with a range of church and mission organisations. While our primary stakeholder is the Baptist Union, a number of denominations now look to Carey with confidence and trust. We are exercising a significant ministry within the wider New Zealand church.

Carey graduates are now ministering effectively among Maori, Pasifika, and Asian churches and communities. This is the outworking of Carey’s commitment to developing leaders who reflect the multicultural nature of the people of Auckland and Aotearoa.

There are many immigrant churches turning to Carey for inexpensive, sub-degree ministry training for their leaders. This is another example of Carey’s flexibility and commitment to providing innovative and sustainable training solutions for the churches of Aotearoa and beyond.

Carey’s Centre for Lifelong Learning is enabling pastors across the denominational spectrum to grow in their leadership and sustain healthy ministries. The vast majority of Baptist pastors have completed at least one lifelong learning course. Highly valued by theologians and church leaders, the Centre provides timely information and insightful commentary on the church.

Carey’s Centre for Gospel and Culture is resourcing church leaders to engage sensitively and effectively in public debate on significant social issues. It is equipping the church to meet the challenges of an increasingly secular culture.

Carey’s faculty and Graduate School are making a significant contribution to the international theological community. Their integrative and indigenous theological research is attracting the attention of scholars internationally.